MainWP Blog - Donata Stroink-Skillrud
Donata Stroink-Skillrud is an attorney licensed in Illinois and a Certified Information Privacy Professional. She is also the legal engineer behind Termageddon, a SaaS that has generated thousands of Privacy Policies and successfully kept them up to date with changing legislation. Donata is also the Chair of the American Bar Association's ePrivacy Committee and Vice-Chair of the Chicago Bar Association's Cybersecurity and Privacy Committee. Donata is also the past Chair of the Chicago Chapter of the International Association of Privacy Professionals along with being Privacy Liaison for MainWP.
A Privacy Law to Protect Brain Activity? What the Latest Amendment to the Colorado Privacy Act Means
Published on May 15, 2024 by Donata Stroink-Skillrud under Privacy, Tips & Tricks, WordPress Business
On April 17, 2024, the Colorado legislature passed an amendment to the State’s comprehensive privacy law, the Colorado Privacy Act to provide protections for brain activity data and similar biological data. This is truly a one of a kind development that requires companies that collect this type of data to gain consent prior to the collection of brain activity data, to be transparent about how such data is used, and to provide residents of Colorado with privacy rights with regard Continue reading the post...
EU AI Act: What You Need to Know
Published on March 25, 2024 by Donata Stroink-Skillrud under MainWP News, Privacy, WordPress Business
On March 13, 2024, the European Parliament voted in favor of the European Union Artificial Intelligence Act (EU AI Act), a landmark regulation that imposes requirements for AI technologies. The Act sets forth a comprehensive framework for the development, use and marketing of AI and aims to support innovation while mitigating the harmful effect of AI systems in the European Union. The Act reaches these goals by classifying AI according to its risk, placing obligations on developers and deployers of Continue reading the post...
Privacy Deceptive Design Dark Pattern Enforcement Sweep Coming
Privacy deceptive design enforcement coming On January 23, 2024, Italy’s Data Protection Authority released a statement that a deceptive design investigation and enforcement sweep will take place between January 29th and February 2nd, 2024. The purpose of the sweep is to analyze websites and applications for deceptive designs that cause individuals to make unwanted and harmful choices concerning their privacy. Upon completion, the results of the sweep will be used to organize awareness activities, contact website and application owners regarding Continue reading the post...
What Will 2024 Bring? Privacy Predictions
Prediction: Multiple states will propose and pass their own privacy laws As we have seen in previous years, states are not willing to wait on the federal government to provide privacy protections to their residents and are therefore proposing and passing their own privacy laws. Currently, there are over 30 proposed privacy bills in the United States and it is very likely that quite a few of them will be passed over the next year. In addition, it is very Continue reading the post...
A guide to the Belgium’s Data Protection Authority cookie guidance
The uncomfortable truth is that most people (including website owners and website visitors) do not actually like cookie consent banners. However, cookie consent banners exist to comply with privacy laws that require user consent prior to that user being tracked online. Since so many websites do not properly obtain consent for cookies, Belgium’s Data Protection Authority has released comprehensive cookie guidance to ensure that businesses comply with the law. In this blog post, we will review the guidance and provide Continue reading the post...
What you need to know about the California Delete Act
What you need to know about the California Delete Act If you, like so many of us, are inundated with constant spam calls and emails from companies you have never heard of before, you may be curious as to how you can stop these emails and calls. You may also be wondering where these companies even obtained your information from. The truth is that the personal information of millions of Americans is bought and sold every day by data brokers. Continue reading the post...
Regulatory Crackdown: $650,000 Fine Imposed on Marketing Email Violation
With so many businesses sending marketing emails to their customers, it is easy to forget that such practices are governed by a multitude of privacy laws and that failure to follow the requirements of such privacy laws may lead to hefty fines. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has recently announced that it will fine Experian Consumer Services $650,000 as part of a settlement. The settlement arises from the allegation that Experian sent customers unsolicited emails without an option Continue reading the post...
What You Need to Know About the Instagram BIPA Settlement
If you are a resident of Illinois and use Instagram, you may have received an email titled “Notice of Class Action and Proposed Settlement.” The email states that if you used Instagram in Illinois between August 10, 2015, and August 16, 2023, you may be entitled to a payment from a settlement over alleged violations of BIPA. In this article, we will discuss what BIPA is, how Instagram allegedly violated the privacy rights of residents of Illinois, and what this Continue reading the post...
How the Nist Privacy Framework Can Help You Comply With Privacy Laws
Published on July 3, 2023 by Donata Stroink-Skillrud under Privacy, Tips & Tricks, WordPress Business
Since more than a dozen privacy laws can apply to a business website, many business owners have been looking for ways to standardize their Privacy Programs. Standardizing your Privacy Program can help you quickly identify the privacy laws that apply to you, evaluate their requirements, determine the steps you need to take, and, crucially, avoid duplicate work. In addition, a standardized Privacy Program can help you integrate new technologies and evaluate and mitigate risks. So how do you standardize a Continue reading the post...
Lessons Learned from Google’s $39.9 Million Location Tracking Settlement
Published on June 1, 2023 by Donata Stroink-Skillrud under Privacy, Tips & Tricks, WordPress Business
In May 2023, Google agreed to pay a whopping $39.9 million to settle a lawsuit with the State of Washington over deceptive location tracking practices. The settlement also requires Google to increase transparency over its location tracking practices. The lawsuit and settlement stemmed from the allegation that Google deceived customers that they had control over whether their location would be tracked when, in reality, tracking would take place regardless of user choice. In this article, we will discuss how this Continue reading the post...
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